Editor's Note: The following editorial by News and Sentinel of Colebrook Publisher Karen Harrigan initially ran in that newspaper last week. It reflects, as only that hometown newspaper could, on the...

Black bear no match for 2 English bulldogs in Bow

May 10. 2014 10:09PMBOW - After home security cameras captured her two English bulldogs chasing away a black bear from a backyard bird feeder, Kelly Hebert posted the video on YouTube so her mother in Philadelphia could see it.

By Saturday evening, the one-minute clip had attracted more than 2 million views.

Hebert believes it's the same bear, nicknamed Brutus, who has visited her family's home every spring since they moved here in 2010.

On May 1, she was next door telling a neighbor that it was time to take down the bird feeders when she saw that Brutus was back.

Then chaos erupted.

Lola and Comma, her bulldogs, crashed through the farmer's porch that overlooks the back yard. The pair, who together weigh about 90 pounds, confronted the bear, who rose to full height on his hind legs.

"The minute I saw the dogs, I ran to the scene thinking, 'There's going to be blood, fur, carnage,'?" she said.

Instead, the bear ran off.

It was only later that Hebert realized the cameras, which are motion-activated, had recorded the entire encounter.

The media onslaught began almost immediately; she's heard from TV stations as far away as New Zealand.

Hebert said she hopes this will be a learning experience for her 12-year-old son, Harrison: "Once you give something to the Internet, you have no control."

While the actual bear incident was happening, she said, "It wasn't fun. It was really upsetting."

Still, she said, "It's funny now, and I'm glad people can get a lot of happiness out of it."

She thinks it's a reflection of how much people love dogs and wildlife: "It's nature voyeurism."

Plus, the story had a happy ending. "I want people to understand that my blessing is that the bear exercised some compassion and walked away," she said.

The whole incident was completely out of character for her dogs, Hebert said. She knows the bulldog was bred for bull- and bear-baiting in its native England.

But she said, "These dogs don't move. They walk to the mailbox and they're done."

After their encounter with the bear, she said, "They slept for three days straight."